Victims of Media Sexism and Their Painful True Stories

We are so used to being in each other’s business today that we seldom stop to think about the fact that the people whose lives media dissects are actual, living, breathing humans with their own troubles and feelings. Added to this is the fact that women often bear the brunt of the media in a much more unforgiving manner.

Many women have been hounded, followed, harassed, and abused by the media, all for the next breaking news and insider scoops. Here are the women who have faced media sexism, and how they have risen above it.

Monica Lewinsky

Crime – Being the ‘other woman’

The woman from a ‘thousand rap songs’, Monica Lewinsky was only 22 when she became embroiled in a relationship with a married man – who also happened to be the sitting US President, Bill Clinton.

Their relationship was made public, after the woman, Lewinsky confided in, secretly recorded their conversations and made them public, including on the then-new internet. The subsequent months were some of the hardest for Lewinsky, who had become an international source of hatred, misogyny, and mockery.

In a revealing Ted Talk, Lewinsky has since talked about her side of things, which shows a young woman in a very disbalanced relationship of power, who didn’t understand, like most 22 year olds, what she was really getting into.

After a decade of silence, Monica Lewinsky has emerged stronger and become an active anti-bullying activist, and a very funny person to follow on Twitter. She will also be an executive producer on the American Crime Story anthology Impeachment, taking back the media narrative created around her.

Meghan Markle 

Crime – Being in Love

When Meghan Markle and Prince Harry announced that they would step back as senior members of the royal family, the British tabloids, known for being acidic in the best of times, suddenly unleashed a barrage of sexism, racism, and hateful vitriol, few have had to experience.

Ever since her relationship with Prince Harry went public, the Duchess of Sussex has had to sit still, and bear with royal silence, the countless articles detailing how horrible and manipulative she is and how she wishes to break the royal family apart, all citing some vague ‘palace sources’.

A viral article showed the very different ways in which the Duchess of Cambridge and the Duchess of Sussex were treated for the very same things, which highlights the single underlining point – racism inciting media sexism.

Meghan Markle continues to thrive despite the pressure. Shifting back to her native US, she has signed multi-million dollar deals, and is set to welcome a second child soon.

Taylor Swift

Crime – Being successful

In 2016, Taylor Swift was at the height of her career. Her album 1989 was breaking all records. Perhaps it was the overexposure of this very success that brought the media sexism down on her.

Suddenly, her feminism was ‘too white’, her political silence was too questionable, her friends were fake (and personally offensive to people who didn’t have supermodel friends), and her brand was simply too nice, which meant it had to be fake, right?

Then there was the infamous Kim-Taylor-Kanye phone call, which exposed Taylor as phony. She had pretended not to know the lyrics of a Kanye song that called her out, when she, in fact, did.

What followed next was a barrage of abuse and hatred, Swift disappearing from the public eye – but coming back with reputation, and re-establishing herself as one of the most versatile and successful contemporary musicians.

Greta Thunberg

Crime – Caring about the future

Greta Thunberg was only 15 when she began protesting in front of the Swedish Parliament, demanding that lawmakers be held accountable for not doing enough for climate change.

She spearheaded the Fridays for Future movement, a global initiative led by the youth leaders who pressurize communities and leaders to do better for the nature. Greta Thunberg has been nominated thrice in a row for one of the world’s most prestigious award, Nobel Peace Prize.

Yet, media sexism has reduced her to an ‘angry teenage girl’, one that either doesn’t understand how economics works, or one that is too anarchist to actually create any meaningful change.

It is in these perceptions of her, that the media has once again spun the narrative out of focus and diluted the urgent message that Greta is trying to address. Whether it is by design, or blind media sexism, is the question.

Yoko Ono

Crime – Ripping apart the band (apparently)

Even today, a woman who ‘seduces’ a man away from his gang of bros is said to have done a ‘Yoko-Ono’. Wife of the iconic Beatles member John Lennon, Ono and Lennon had a tumultuous relationship, but found collaborative and artistic inspiration in each other, something Lennon was having trouble with in The Beatles.

In September 1996, Lennon expressed his wishes to leave the band, which many put down to Ono’s influence. Even before that, Lennon’s wish to involve Ono in the White Album project had created friction.

After the devastating breakup, fans and media were quick to pin the blame on Yoko Ono instead of the growing discord that had been simmering between the Beatles for years. After Lennon’s assassination, Ono’s status as a wrecker was cemented, as the four Beatles never came together for a reunion.

Now that you now these painful stories, be a little more careful of media sexism – it may cost somebody very dearly.